The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Osteospermum plant, botanically known as Osteospermum ecklonis, and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Sumipas 03’.
The new Osteospermum is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Lüdinghausen, Germany. The objective of the breeding program was to create new compact and early flowering Osteospermum cultivars with large and attractive inflorescences.
The new Osteospermum originated from a cross-pollination in April, 2001 of a proprietary Osteospermum ecklonis selection identified as code number 24, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with the Osteospermum ecklonis cultivar Sumpink, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Osteospermum was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination grown in a controlled environment in Lüdinghausen, Germany in April, 2002.
Asexual reproduction of the new Osteospermum by terminal vegetative cuttings was first conducted in Lüdinghausen, Germany in May, 2002. Asexual reproduction by cuttings has shown that the unique features of this new Osteospermum are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.